We measured far-field patterns of on-board laser communication equipment (LCE) using a free-space laser transmission simulator. The LCE was developed by Communications Research Laboratories (CRL) for basic optical communications experiments using the Japan's Engineering Test Satellite-VI (ETS-VI), while the free-space simulator is being developed by ATR as an on-ground test system for laser communication terminals. Far-field patterns of an on-board laser communication terminal have measured experimentally by an on-ground test system for the first time. The LCE emitted a laser beam whose peak directive gain was 104.6 dB and whose beamwidth was 31 X 19 (mu) rad in full-width at half-maximum. It was confirmed that the transmitted beam of the LCE met the experimental requirements. Through the measurement, the free-space laser transmission simulator demonstrated its effectiveness in an on-ground measurement of the beam characteristics of a laser communication terminal.

Date Published: 6 August 1993
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 1866, Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies V, (6 August 1993); doi: 10.1117/12.149258

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1866:
Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies V
G. Stephen Mecherle, Editor(s)